winter olympics

Theron Sands is 53 and he skated in the 10,000 meters at the 2018 US Olympic Trials in Milwaukee on Thursday. I won't give away what happened beyond him reaching the qualifying standard for the trials (it takes about 10 seconds to find out) but here's a video made as part of his GoFundMe campaign while working toward it. There's a lot to appreciate about his training and preparation in here, even some wheeled skating.

This is a brief note to point to an article about pro long track speedkating season. The one that matters to me, at least. No disrespect intended to the short track derby, but I like mostly non-contact sport contests of speed. The first turn of an F1 race is admittedly often an exception.

This weekend pro long track starts again, and TeamUSA has some experienced skaters leading up to the Olympics. Notably, Shani Davis, a great speedskater over the years, returns. Also Heather (Richardson) Bergsma, from High Point, NC, is back on the ice for another year always being a threat to win the gold. I don't know how or if I'll be able to catch this off the airwaves or streams, but might make an attempt. Former inliner Joey Mantia will also be on the team!

Here's a well-done if brief local piece of writing from Florida, where they are mighty proud of their inline champion, Brittany Bowe. If I have it right, she was at the US Cup when I was there, skating for Verducci (she, not me, ha!)**. I may even have some photos of her skating with the Verducci gals, not sure (might have a photo of Heather Richardson from a US10K too..

Thus, like many inliners, Bowe must have figured out there's not much glory in being at the top of a non-Olympic sport, and why not give it a go. (I think she may have made an attempt at cycling some time back too.) Anyway, she and High Point's Heather Richardson had raced plenty, and seeing Richardson's success surely was a factor, and likely made it easier to make the decision and follow an example for the switch over to indoor long track ice speed skating.

This could be a powerful duo for the USA and they could be ambassadors for inline everywhere.

Here's a brief interview with one of Canada's favorite speed skating champions. I thought the comments on competition were interesting. I miss seeing all those skaters who were so much faster than me at Athens to Atlanta. They'd still be faster than me, most of them, but not perhaps it is not worth being there to them if not faster than almost everyone there? In any case, I'd love to see more skaters at A2A, especially those on the way up or down. I think a lower entry fee would help. In any case, back to the subject at hand....

Oh boy I love my excuses. I need them! But some people have the genetics, psychosis, or whatever it is to overcome the challenges and keep seeking the Olympic dream.

TWO ARTICLES! FIRST ONE...

Check out this article on a guy who can't hear the competition, but seems ready to beat them. An inliner, then a swimmer, then to drinks and drugs, back to inline, then he saw a buddy from inline skating on television in the Olympics...

It was time to transition to ice, a path already blazed by other inline skaters who'd gone on to race in the Olympics on the ice. He sold everything, including his car, and bought a one-way ticket to the Olympic Training Center in Utah.

And yes as we often admit, there can be an addiction there...a good one, we hope...

It's a tough combination of teaching rink ice sessions, boardwalk running along the beaches of Long Island, NY, inline skating on multiuse pathways, and all the rigors of training (which is at least fun work), but not much time of 400m world class arenas. Many would like to have such a tough life of skating focus. But after early promise and years of challenges, a former bulemic ice figure skater who qualified for trials in 1984 believes she may have it all coming together after just two years on ice speed skates.

She may find the 15 seconds of speed to get her 15 minutes of fame to make it into the 2014 Winter Olympics. Even if she doesn't, the pursuit of that dream will keep her life skateyfied and that has to be supersweet, indeed.

After last week's Salt Lake City (Kearns) Utah championships, where Shani Davis set two world records, the speed skaters head for what they say is the slower ice of Richmond, BC, to the oval where next year's Winter Olympics will be contested. There's controversy over whether the Canadian hosts have been allowing teams free access to the rink, but i don't care so much about that. If they want a home rink advantage, so be it. If they want to seem gracious and accomodating, so be that too.

A few years ago at the US10K I met Heather Richardson from High Point Speed, just briefly, not a long chat or anything. But it was clear she was a powerful skater even at 10K, which is lots longer than most indoor types really want to do very often (that's a lot of laps on the tiny indoor inline circuits). The Greensboro News & Record has a nice story on her, point out that...

Richardson, a 19-year-old from High Point, is the reigning U.S.
champion in long-track speedskating's sprint events and recently
finished 20th at the World Sprints.